NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Those Canadian stick figures on YouTube scored another big U.S. marketing award.

The Marketing Association of Credit Unions named $1.6 billion Common Wealth Credit Union of Lloydminster, Alberta, this year’s MACQUEE Award winner at the group’s annual conference award dinner last night. Common Wealth’s Young & Free checking promotion, which relies heavily upon technology and social media, had just picked up three CUES Golden Mirror awards last week.

Common Wealth hired Chilliwack, British Columbia-based agency Currency Marketing for creative and strategy assistance to promote the account to Gen-Y.

The cornerstone of the promotion was a province-wide search for a spokesperson, someone between the ages of 19 and 25 who would work 20 hours per week for the credit union, communicating with potential young members in person and online. Three finalists were selected from video entries, with 19-year-old visual artist Larissa Walkiw selected from an online voting competition.

Walkiw is the creator of the popular video that promotes the account and the credit union difference. The video, which uses simple stick figure artwork, has been viewed more than 20,000 times on YouTube.